Development of Kannada Software

PROCEEDINGS OF GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA

Sub:      Development of Kannada Software- notifying Unicode as

Standard for Kannada coding – reg.

Read:

1) Ministry of Communications and Information

Technology, Govt, of India Notification dated: 27.11.2009

  • Notification No KCIT 131 Kasani 2008(p), dated 01.12.2008
  • Report of Expert Committee dated 15.04.2010
  • Proceedings of the meeting dated 09.04.2012 held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to Govt.
  • International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, Letter No.IIITB/Unicode/2012, dated 11.04.2012.

Preamble:

Department of Information Technology, Govt, of India notified Unicode 5.1.0 and its future versions as the Standard for e-Governance applications for promoting the usage of Open Standards to avoid any technology lock-ins vide notification read at (1) above

On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava held on 01.11.2008, HonUle Chief Minister has announced that the State Govt, would provide a special grant of Rs.25.00 Crores for all-round development of Kannada. In view of this, an Expert Committee for the Kannada Software Development has been constituted to consider the subject matter in depth under the Chairmanship of Sri K.Chidananda Gowda, retired Vice Chancellor vide notification read at (2) above.

The Expert Committee after detailed deliberations submitted the final report to Govt, read at (3) above and has made the following recommendations in connection with Kannada Software :-

 

2)

  • Kannada Software based on ASCII
  • Kannada Software based on Unicode
  • Kannada Software based on Linux
  • Kannada Software based on Mobile phone
  • Kannada virtual University
  • Kannada Wikipedia (Kannada Encyclopedia in internet).
  • Kannada desktop publication
  • Software related to e-Commerce, e-Mail, e-Governance
  • Kannada Braille Software
  • Converters
  • C.R (Akshara Jana)
  • Kannada Speech processing
  • Kannada Learning software
  • Standardisation
  • Dictionaries in internet
  • Kannada technical glossary
  • Multimedia applications
  • Publication of best Kannada literary works
  • Developing software which is essential for public domain by identifying it
  • Kannada Tech / Latex software
  • Kannada Software Development Fund

In the meeting held on 09.04.2012 under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to Govt, it was resolved to obtain a technical report from International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore regarding usage of Unicode and after considering the report to place the matter before the Cabinet for approval.

The IIITB has submitted its report to Govt, read at (5) above stating that, Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems. Unicode is an evolving International effort at standardizing (1 to 4 bytes per character). Unicode provides neat separation between encoding scripts and rendering. Fonts (a collection of Glyphs, dingbats) render Unicode characters appropriately on manj^ devices. Due to lack of extensive participation from Indian scholars, Unicode code assignment to various special characters required for Indie scripts has suffered. Unicode preserves correct “representation” and can be rendered across hardware (Phone, PC, Projector, Video) and used in many software (OS, DBMS). Indirectly provides “sort” order – though artificial for Indian scripts once correctly done, everyone benefits. Font development can happen independently and all fonts can benefit.

IIITB has further stated about the limitations of Non Unicode encoding schemes Viz, (1) Encoding & rendering are tightly coupled (2) Cannot render consistently across platforms (3) Files and Documents cannot be shared easily.

A

IIITB has recommended to notify the Unicode as the encoding standard for Kannada, stating that all earlier content need to he – converted. Converters can take care of the earlier key encoding systems used in software like Nudi and Baraha so that all current content can be converted and preserved. Future content creation can benefit from consistency across platforms.

After careful consideration of the proposal, the following order is issued  ‘

Government Order No.KCIT 79 KASANI 2010
Bangalore, dated 24.11.2012

In the circumstances explained in the preamble, The Government of Karnataka hereby notifies Unicode 6.0.0 and its future versions as the Standard for Kannada for e-Governance applications, data base correspondences, internet, Mobile, Laptop, Tablet applications, applications for KIOSK, ATM etc. of all levels of information technology with immediate effect.

The Government Departments shall take immediate steps to migrate all digital documents in legacy encodings to Unicode and shall also take steps to provide conversion tools for formats such as plain text, rich text, desktop office applications and other formats as necessary in all popular Operating Systems.

This order issued with the concurrence of DPAR(E-Govenance) vide U.O Note No:  11 gesg 2012, dated: 21.07.2012. and Finance Dept.

Vide U.O.Note No: FD 732 EXP-7/2012, dated: 15.09.2012.

By order and in the name of the

Governor of Karnataka                         *

—————— ”

(G.B Hemanna)

Under Secretary to Govt.

Kannada, Culture and Inforamtion Dept.
^(Adalita Kannada)

To:

The Compiler, Karnataka Gazette, Kengeri, Bangalore for publication in the next issue of the Gazetteer.

Copy to:-

  1. The Accountant General(A&E), Karnataka, Bangalore.
  2. The Joint Director, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Department of Information Technology, Government of India, Electronics Niketan 6, CGO Complex, New Delhi-110 003.
  3. The Chief Secretary to Government, Vidhana Soudha.
  4. The Additional Chief Secretary to Government.
  5. The Principal Secretary to Govt, DPAR(E-Governance), M.S.Building, Bangalore.
  6. All Principal Secretaries/Secretaries.
  7. Secretary to Hon Hole Governor, Rajabhavan, Bangalore.
  8. Registrar General, Karnataka High Court, Bangalore.
  9. Registrar, Karnataka Lokayukta, Bangalore.
  10. Registrar, Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, Bangalore.
  11. Secretary, Karnataka Public Service Commission, Bangalore.
  12. Principal Secretary/Secretary, Karnataka Assembly/Council, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
  13. Secretary to Chief Minister, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
  14. All Regional Commissioners.
  15. Commissioner, Kannada and Culture Dept., Kannada Bhavana, Bangalore.
  16. All Departmental Heads.
  17. All District Collectors/Chief Executive Officers of Zilla panchayats.
  18. The Director, Government Press, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore (To publish in the weekfy Gazette.)
  19. The Director, Karnataka State Archives Department, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore
  20. The Registrar, International Institute of Information Technology, 26/C, Electronic City, Hosur road, Bangalore.
  21. All Additional/Joint/Deputy/Under Secretaries of Government.
  22. The Under Secretary to Govt, Finance Dept (Exp-7), Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore
  23. S to Chief Secretary (Cabinet Section), Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.(With reference to Case no: C:607/2012)
  24. The PS to Hon’ble Minister, Minor irrigation and Kannada and Culture, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore
  25. Secretary to Chief Minister, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
  26. All Section Officers of Secretariat.
  27. PS to Secretary to Government, Kannada, Culture and Information Department, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore.
  28. PA to Deputy Secretary, Kannada, Culture and Information Department, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore.
  29. Co-ordination Section/Section Guard File/Spare copies.